Our thoughts and prayers are with the members of the Guildford Cathedral community who were subject to vandalism over the weekend. The cathedral has released the statement below following the incident:
Press Release | 12 January 2024
Vandals damage iconic angel glass at Guildford Cathedral.
It is with great sadness that Guildford Cathedral announces that vandals have caused considerable damage to its iconic glass panes – part of a set of sentinel angels engraved by renowned glass artist John Hutton.
The police were called to the cathedral in the early hours of Friday morning after vandals smashed one of the glass panels and an investigation is underway.
The damaged window panel is part of a set of sentinel angels engraved by glass artist John Hutton (1906 - 1978) which are an iconic feature of the west front of the Cathedral and an acclaimed piece of 20th-century art.
Matt O’Grady, Chief Operating Officer said:
"Everyone at the Cathedral is devastated by this senseless act of vandalism at a holy place.
“The smashed window was engraved by renowned glass engraving artist John Hutton and is irreplaceable.
“We hope that the whole community will come together to recognise that acts such as this serve no purpose and that places such as our Cathedral need to be preserved as shrines of peace, tranquillity, and spirituality in a troubled world,” he added.